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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Stadium switcheroo -- must the construction go out for bid now?

Back in April, when the City of Portland announced that the Paulson satadiums deal was going to be a no-bid affair, one of the justifications the city gave was this:

The award of a Predevelopment Agreement to Peregrine should be exempted from competition requirements of state law and City Code on a sole-source basis because Peregrine is the only entity that holds both franchises, is the only entity that will renovate the MLS Stadium and construct the new Triple-A baseball stadium and is the only entity other than the City that will incur predevelopment costs. To the City’s knowledge, no other entity exists that is willing to split predevelopment costs with the City.....

In addition, Peregrine would not be interested in making a contribution toward renovation or public improvement costs if it could not also operate both stadiums. Thus, while there are potentially other companies that could operate both Stadiums, there is no other entity that will operate and also make a contribution toward construction costs at both Stadiums

Comments (16)

How did the city acquire it's "city's knowledge" that there aren't any interested parties? Where's the proof for that? What performa documents were provided? How could there be, when nothing has been clearly decided to produce a request of interest doc? Where's the Associated Contractors Association on this? Why aren't there media types out there that know what kind of questions to ask?

I'm sure they must be a linchpin of some type in this whole pay-to-play scheme.

The funny thing is there probably isn't any smoking gun to be found. I doubt you could catch any of these people negotiating a quid-pro-quo if you could tap their phones and read their all their email.

This is just a group of savvy dancers who can step and slide independently with the beat of the music while they herd the rest of the ballroom in the directions they choose.

This routine would have surely worked (again) except one of the dancers is constantly drunk and tripping all over the place.

If we don't change the rules soon, we're going to have to deal with this again and again.

I smell a plan here. The city council realizes their 2 stadium scheme has gone from a holding pattern to a downward spiral to a free fall and they want to stop it in midair before it lands where it should land with baseball and soccer sharing PGE Park as they've done before.

So they're scrambling to make the soccer part stick so the most sensible option will be out of the question. How can we force MLS to buckle and let baseball stay if the changes have already been made?

Then with soccer secured and PGE Park locked up as a single use facility, it becomes, "Portland, build a new stadium or lose the team."

Don't you see this is a cynical move by them?

Now the one problem is that our brave and noble commissioner Randy Leonard has said no baseball means no soccer. That's a real monkey wrench into the idea of forcing PGE Park into the soccer-only mode.

So how does Randy make this cynical, leverage-driven flip flop on his position and still not come off as a complete phony?

It's easy. He becomes even phonier and says his conscience is at stake because we are holding soccer "hostage." Oh, the morality.
Oh, the powerful forces of noble goodness that must flow through his veins. Randy, thanks for being such a wonderful, caring guy.

I know it's hard to honor what your conscience tells you is right sometimes so bravo. Way to do the right thing even if it just looks like a politically-driven reversal to the rest of us.

A lesser man would be accused of trying to manipulate this process and shove the plan down our throats, but you are only shoving it halfway down for now. Thanks, pal.
You're all heart.

He becomes even phonier and says his conscience is at stake because we are holding soccer "hostage."

Since Ted Koppel got his biggest break during the Tehran embassy crisis thirty years ago with the establishment of "Nightline: America Held Hostage," I really think it could be updated for this crisis as "Portline: Soccer Held Hostage."

So Randy Leonard is waiting now for Merritt Paulson to take a sauna and recant about pulling out of Lents? This after the citizens of Lents gave Merritt a less than enthusiastic reception at the meeting? Someone who was there described it as right out of "Bonfire of the Vanities."

How about this? Merritt, while you're in the sauna think about keeping both teams at PGE. You mention "risking" losing the soccer if we don't cave into MLS's demands - even though other cities have dual-sport sites according to David Sarasohn.

Isn't that starting to sound like a sensible decision?

Of course, the movie needs a happy ending. I'm not 100% sure but isn't there a chance the Timbers will play the Seattle Sounders soon? I heard that somewhere.

Wouldn't it be tremendous if the minor league Timbers beat the MLS Seattle team proving once and for all what a joke this whole exercise has been?

Again, I'm not sure that'll happen but that's how I'd write the script.

Someone on another blog tried to revive the idea of the main post office land serving a stadium. Yea, right. If the Pearlies bitch about noise from the mail trucks now, (and train whistles, and garbage trucks) then they would surely be sent into therapy sessions over all the noise and fuss a stadium would bring...

If you really think it's a sole source, do a Notice of Intent. You'll find out in two weeks if there's someone else in this economy whose willing to take on this project. That would be transparent purchasing policy.